An ink-ejecting recording apparatus, i.e., an example of liquid ejecting apparatuses, includes a recording head (liquid ejecting head) having a plurality of nozzle rows each of which is formed by arranging a plurality of nozzle openings in a row, a carriage mechanism for moving the recording head in a main scanning direction (direction along the width of a recording sheet), and a feed mechanism for feeding the recording sheet in a sub-scanning direction (paper feeding direction) perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
The recording head is provided with pressure chambers communicating with the nozzle openings, and pressure-producing elements for varying ink pressure in the pressure chambers. Discharge pulses are applied to the pressure-producing elements of the recording head to change ink pressure in the pressure chambers such that ink particles are ejected through the nozzle openings.
The recording head moving in the main scanning direction ejects ink particles at times specified by dot-pattern data. Upon the arrival of the recording head at the terminal end of a scanning range, the feed mechanism feeds the recording sheet in the sub-scanning direction, and the carriage mechanism starts moving the recording head in the main scanning direction and the recording head ejects ink particles while the same is moving in the main scanning direction.
The foregoing steps of a recording operation are repeated to record an image on the recording sheet in a dot matrix specified by the dot pattern data.
The recording head of the ink-ejecting recording apparatus of this type is capable of ejecting inks of different colors, for example, inks of four colors, such as black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Some recording head is capable of ejecting seven color inks, such as black, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow and dark yellow inks, to record high-quality color images.
A previously proposed ink-ejecting recording apparatus capable of printing color images as mentioned above is able to operate selectively in either of a high-speed printing mode and a high-quality printing mode according to the purpose of the user. When the ink-ejecting recording apparatus is set for operation in the high-speed printing mode, the four color inks, namely, the black, cyan, magenta and yellow inks, are used for a four-color printing mode. When the ink-ejecting recording apparatus is set for operation in the high-quality printing mode, the seven color inks, namely, the black, cyan, light-cyan, magenta, light-magenta, yellow and dark yellow inks, are used for operation in a seven-color printing mode.
To enable the ink-ejecting recording apparatus to operate selectively in either of the four-color printing mode (high-speed printing mode) and the seven-color printing mode (high-quality printing mode), the recording head is provided with nozzle rows respectively for the seven color inks. If two nozzle rows are assigned to the black ink that is frequently used, the recording head is provided with eight nozzle rows.
However, the dimension of the recording head along the main scanning direction increases with the increase of the number of the nozzle rows. Therefore, picture quality will be significantly deteriorated due to the incorrect positional relation between the recording head and the recording sheet that will occur when the recording head is incorrectly positioned or the recording sheet is dislocated.
Generally, the ink-ejecting recording apparatus has a printing region of a predetermined length, and approach regions extending outward from the opposite ends of the printing regions in the main scanning directions. When the recording head is reversed after being stopped at the end of a forward (or backward) scanning stroke for a backward (or forward) scanning stroke, the recording head starts moving at a moving speed of zero, and then the recording head is accelerated to a predetermined scanning speed. Therefore an approach region is necessary to accelerate the recording head to the predetermined scanning speed before the recording head enters the printing region.
When the dimension of the recording head in the main scanning direction increases due to the foregoing reasons, the necessary width of the approach regions on the opposite outer sides of the printing region increases inevitably.
When the recording mode of the liquid ejecting apparatus capable of operating selectively in either of the four-color printing mode (high-speed printing mode) and the seven-color printing mode (high-quality printing mode), the types of the liquids supplied to the liquid ejecting head are changed. The types of the liquids can be changed by changing, for example, ink cartridges. In such a case, predetermined types of ink cartridges meeting the recording mode must be correctly installed.